Market On Meth, Economy On Hospice
Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance
It was another fine week here at Fringe Finance — my 25 stocks for 2025 continue to outperform the S&P 500 while multiple sectors of the market resemble actual flaming bags of dogshit and I had the chance to rant post about everything from Greta Thunberg’s latest cosplay as the world’s conscience, to gold screaming past $4,000 an ounce, to the fact that markets look more and more like a drunk guy on roller skates — fun to watch, but destined for a wipeout.
Oh, and AI? Yeah, that’s quietly shaping up to be the next railroad bust.
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This week I looked at Greta Thunberg’s ongoing evolution from climate crusader to geopolitical generalist. Once content with scolding world leaders about carbon footprints, she’s now being “kidnapped” in the Middle East while livestreaming the whole thing like it’s a new Netflix series. To me, it all feels less like activism and more like Broadway.
Greta Thunberg: The Patron Saint Of Performance Art
Meanwhile, gold finally did the thing everyone’s been waiting for: it broke $4,000 an ounce. And not only that — it got there in record time. What used to take over a decade now takes months, which says a lot more about how fast confidence is eroding in global finance than it does about shiny rocks. The real question isn’t whether gold hits $5,000 — it’s how soon, and whether it means we’re in a bubble or witnessing a structural reset of the financial system.
$4,000: Gold’s Acceleration Reveals Vanishing Calm, Coming Change
Speaking of flimsy — markets are acting like it’s 1999 all over again. Paul Tudor Jones called it: all the ingredients are there for one last euphoric melt-up before the crash. The Magnificent Seven are doing the heavy lifting, retail is piling into options like it’s Vegas, and nobody cares that the economy is sputtering. It’s like watching the Titanic hit the iceberg, but the band has switched from violins to electric guitars and everyone’s still on the dance floor. Sure, the music’s great — but don’t forget the lifeboats are limited.
Blowing Ourselves
And then there’s AI. The hype train is speeding down the tracks with no brakes, burning through billions every month on datacenters that depreciate faster than new iPhones. The insiders I’ve spoken with admit the math doesn’t work, which is kind of important when you’re spending nearly 2% of GDP on servers that could be obsolete before the lease is up. The parallels to the railroad bubble of the 1800s are eerie — except instead of steel tracks that lasted decades, we’re left with racks of GPUs that age like milk. If this all blows up, it won’t just be a tech problem, it could be a national economic crisis.
AI's Worst Case A "National Economic Crisis"
That’s the week in review: Greta’s one-woman theater tour, gold’s sprint, markets chugging Red Bull, and AI as the next too-big-to-fail bubble. Here’s what else is new on the blog:
Thanks as always for reading, sharing, and thinking independently — even if it sometimes feels like the world doesn’t want you to.
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